Argosax

Argosax the Chaos was a powerful Demon King who once ruled the Demon World. He serves as the boss of Mission 18, the final mission of Dante's scenario in Devil May Cry 2.

Before Devil May Cry 2
Argosax once was infrequently worshipped by the people of Dumary Island, and it was there that he almost appeared in the Human World, but Sparda and Vie de Marli defeated him and sealed him away using the four relics known as Arcana.

Devil May Cry 2
Arius tries to obtain the Arcana in order to release Argosax, take his power, and become a god. The Arcana are four holy relics used to seal Argosax, and by uniting them at the solar eclipse, a gate to the Demon World will open.

Though Dante manages to interfere with Arius' ritual by replacing the Medaglia with his own double-sided coin, the doorway is still partially opened, and Arius absorbs part of Argosax's power. Because the door is unstable, whoever enters may not be able to return, so Lucia demands to go, claiming she is expendable. However, Dante puts the decision to his coin, and after winning the coin toss, goes in, just like his father once did.

Inside the portal, Dante finds Argosax in its first form, a hideous pile of flesh composed of pieces of Phantom, Griffon, Orangguerra, Jokatgulm, Nefasturris, and Furiataurus. After slaying each piece, a stalk bearing an egg extends from the mass, and Argosax's true form, The Despair Embodied, hatches from it.

As The Despair Embodied, Argosax appears as an androgynous, horned, angelic being composed of fire, able to change sexes at will. While in its female form, it attacks with a whip, and while in its male form, it wields a sword. The Despair Embodied is able to teleport around the battlefield, or fly into the air and shower Dante with a rain of fiery feathers. However, even in this form, Argosax is still brought down by Dante, and is defeated. Afterwards, Dante rides off on a motorcycle, presumably escaping the Demon World through another doorway.

Strategy
As the Chaos, Argosax is a compilation of different parts of the other bosses. While you will not have to fight every boss again, you will have to deal with some of their attacks, plus Griffon. Take out each boss one at a time until they are all gone: you have a huge advantage here in that they cannot move.

As the Despair Embodied, Argosax is fast. Focus on dodging its attacks and use your guns for a safe kill.

Background
Argosax's appearance might be a reference to the biblical, an entity that was composed of multiple demons possessing a single man in the Gospel of Mark. Both Argosax and Legion are composed of multiple demons and both Argosax and Legion possessed a man, which they drove insane.

Argosax, particularly as the Despair Embodied, seems to draw on certain Gnostic and Alchemical themes. Some Gnostic interpretations of the account of creation in Genesis believed that Adam was a hermaphroditic being until a new being (Eve) was made from him by the creator god. Thus Argosax's Despair form switching between a masculine and feminine form maybe a vague reference to that. In regard to Alchemically, a common goal for some alchemists in their effort to achieve the Magnum Opus ("Great Work") was to achieve a "Union of Opposites" of which traits of opposing elements would sometimes be cast in terms ascribing male and female characteristics. The room for Dante's second battle against Arius in his seventeenth mission includes the images of a man and woman closely to each other possibly alluding to this concept from Alchemy, granted Arius's goal for his personal Magnum Opus is a selfish one of achieving godhood rather than any sort of spiritual growth.

Trivia

 * Argosax arugubly has the most HP out of any boss in Devil May Cry 2, and possibly the most health out of any boss in the whole Devil May Cry series, he has 6 bars of health in his first form and 2 bars of health in his second form, which makes him have 8 bars of health.